Non-cardiac Chest Pain Evaluation and Treatment Study (CARPA) - Part 1: Diagnosis

Acute chest pain is a common reason for hospital admission. The focus of diagnosis is of course pain of cardiac origin including myocardial infarction and/or other ischemic heart disease; however, in up to 50% of cases the aetiology may be non-cardiac. Differential diagnoses include primarily pulmonary, gastrointestinal, psychosocial, or musculoskeletal problems, and musculoskeletal problems may account for around 20% of the total number of admissions in acute chest pain clinics. Thus the musculoskeletal system is a recognized possible source of pain in patients with chest pain even though a confident diagnosis of musculoskeletal chest pain can be difficult to establish since no gold standard exists to verify this diagnosis.

Chest pain patients with normal coronary anatomy have an excellent prognosis for survival and a future risk of cardiac morbidity similar to that reported in the background population. However, about three quarters of patients with non-cardiac chest pain continue to suffer from residual chest pain with large socio-economic consequences. Therefore, a search for an alternative cause with related possibilities for treatment is warranted. Given these perspectives, the general objective of the present work is to study the diagnosis of chest pain originating from the musculoskeletal system of the cervical and thoracic spine, and thorax in patients with chest pain of various origins, and to evaluate ischemic heart disease status among patients with presumed musculoskeletal pain.

Evaluation:

Patients with musculoskeletal chest pain will be identified using a standardized examination protocol comprised of a semi-structured interview, a general health examination, and a specific manual examination of the muscles and joints of the neck, thoracic spine and thorax. All patients will have a Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI) performed and results from the MPI will be compared with the musculoskeletal status. Specific important parameters of the standardized examination protocol will be identified and the decision making process of the chiropractor will be evaluated.